Fixing Site Maps

We made it out to the village this morning. There was very little rain in the village compared to where our compound is located. So the landfill we were worried about will work. However that landfill will not hold all of the lead contaminated waste so we will have the excavation crew build another landfill at a different location.

We are still mapping the village and remediation is not expected to start until next Tuesday so we still have some time. Another crew had previously mapped the exterior locations but the sketches on those maps were inadequate so I spent much of my day sketching the areas that need excavation and new soil.  Some of the readings in these exterior areas are pushing 60000ppm.

So it was a day of wandering around trying identify what areas were what and what useful information could be of use in developing new maps. I am pretty sure that most of the villagers thought I was lost or crazy...

Many of the exterior areas are under trees and near wells like the one in this picture.

The excavator started loading piles of dirt from the contaminated pond site into the tipper (dump truck) which promptly got stuck so we called off that operation. This picture shows the tight quarters through which the excavator has to travel.

Really it was a productive day. The female team mapped out about six compounds today so that brings us to over half done with all mapping.

On another subject, someone may have just been stung by a scorpion. We called MSF who is just down the road so he will be in good hands.